National Mustard Day this year is on August 5th.
The Mustard Museum writes that Each year on the first Saturday in August, we paint the town yellow. Since the very first mustard day celebration in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, back in 1991, the Mustard Museum has hosted this golden annual event. And, we truly have come a long, long way. That first event occupied about three parking stalls in front of the original museum.
Now, they close streets in Downtown Middleton where thousands gather every year for this engaging street festival!
A family-oriented, fun-filled, sun-splashed outdoor food festival, National Mustard Day features hot dogs, brats, mustard sampling, live music, and games & prizes all for a one-of-a-kind mustard experience. The 2021 NMD event brought us back to the streets for the exciting in-person event in Downtown Middleton we had all grown accustomed to over the years. Mustard Day has become one of Dane County’s most anticipated summer outdoor events.
You can click the button below to learn more about the Mustard Day street festival that took place in 2022.
Want to sponsor National Mustard Day? Please contact Barry Levenson at curator@mustardmuseum.org.
It is believed to have originated in Ancient Egypt. The Greeks used Mustard as a medicine and a spice. The Romans emulated the Greeks using it as both food and medicine as well, ascribing it as a cure for anything from hysteria to snakebite to bubonic plague.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 2023 | 10am – 4pm rain or shine
FRENCH’S MUSIC STAGE
10:00 The Mustard Day Overture with The Blue Accordion
10:30 Opening Ceremony with Dr. Mustard, Dean of Poupon U
11:00 John Masino Band
1:00 to 4:00 Frank Martin Busch and the Names
4:00 The BIG Mustard Day 50/50 Raffle Drawing (more info below)
MUSTARD MUSEUM FAMILY TENT
11:30, 1:15, 2:45 Kids Are People Too! (three interactive family shows)
11:00, 12:30, 2:15 Hubbard Avenue Diner Pie Walk
FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD (and Drinks)
Razzle Dazzle Mustard Ice Cream from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream
Usinger’s Bratwursts and All-Beef Hot Dogs
“Holy Cow” Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (sponsored by Cabot Creamery)
Cleveland Kitchen Kraut, Kimchi and Pickle Chip samples
Hot Soft Pretzels (with mustard)
Ice Cold Beverages
ACTIVITIES
— MEET THE MUSTARD MAKERS —
Plochman’s Mustard
Ringhand’s Beer Mustard
Stormin’ Gorman Thomas and his mustard sauce
(see more info below)
— MUSTARD MARKETPLACE —
Souvenir T-shirts
Mustards Galore!
— FUN —
Meet the French’s Mustard Mascot
Balloon Twisting by Pop Art Entertainment
Face Painting
— GAMES —
French’s Mustard Ring Toss
Plochman’s Spinning Wheel of Mustard Fortune
Mustard Bowling
Lucky Mustard Dice
Fishing for Mustard
Feed the CuratorMustard Cornhole
Mustard Cornhole
Mustard Pitch
— INSIDE THE MUSTARD MUSEUM —
See the World’s Largest Collection of Mustard and Mustard Memorabilia
Enjoy MustardPiece Theater
Browse the Museum Gift Shop
— ABOUT THE MUSTARD MAKERS & MARKETPLACE —
Meet the Mustard Makers! Those who will be here on Mustard Day (Plochman’s, Ringhand’s Beer Mustard, Gorman Thomas) are all recent medal winners of the World-Wide Mustard Competition. Sample some of their most popular flavors, as well as some of our Gift Shop’s best selling mustards and gourmet goodies.
A Little Bit About the Museum…
According to Museum Founder & Curator Barry Levenson, you can blame it all on the Boston Red Sox. In the wee hours of October 28, 1986, after his favorite baseball team had just lost the World Series to the NY Mets, a disconsolate Barry was wandering the aisles of an all-night supermarket looking for the meaning of life. As he passed the mustards, he heard a voice saying: “If you collect us, they will come.” Barry bought a dozen jars of mustard and at that moment resolved to amass the world’s largest collection of prepared mustards.
He continued his work as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin during his early years of collecting mustards. While in Washington, DC, to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, he spied a jar of mustard (right) on a discarded room-service tray in the hallway of his hotel and took it for his collection. “I argued a case before the Supreme Court with a jar of mustard in my left pocket,” he says. “We won!” Moments like that cemented his unwavering devotion to mustard. In 1991, Barry left the law to devote himself full-time to collecting mustards and mustard memorabilia.
In 1992, Barry resigned from his job as an Assistant Attorney General to open this highly improbable museum, now one of Wisconsin’s most popular attractions. The Mustard Museum has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show (photo below), the popular game shows Jeopardy!, To Tell the Truth, and You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno and has been included in countless stories on other national television and radio shows, and in major newspapers everywhere.
The Mustard Museum opened to the general public in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, on April 5, 1992. With a burgeoning collection outgrowing its confining walls, the Museum moved to a more spacious facility across the street from the original Mount Horeb site in October of 2000. In 2009, the Museum moved to its current facility in downtown Middleton, Wisconsin, and changed its name to the more encompassing “National Mustard Museum.”
From those few jars of mustard that Barry purchased in 1986, the Museum collection has grown to more than 6,500 mustards from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, along with hundreds of items of mustard memorabilia. The collection includes the exquisite Gibbons Collection of sterling silver and porcelain mustard pots (above), antique tins & jars, vintage advertisements, as well as information on the history of mustard, how it is grown & produced, and its nutritional properties and medical history. The Mustard Museum is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, so your generous support will help us keep the mustard flowing for generations to come!
Located in bustling downtown Middleton, Wisconsin, just outside Madison, it is truly a shining temple to the undisputed ‘King of Condiments’.
Source: Mustard Museum GS Dunn
